Needles & hooks

At the end of my cable…

I’m back to knitting at work again (good = knitting yay! bad = doing lots of page proofs boo!). And yesterday, one of my Knit Picks Options cables broke. The cable pulled out of the end piece. It had been loose for a while, but there was a loud pop (literally, it was quite impressive) and suddenly the stitches fell off. Now, this isn’t the disaster it could have been. I was knitting large-gauge stockinette and had another needle around to scoop up the stitches onto. The project was getting to the point where I thought I’d need two circulars anyway to work it, so I had one to switch it out. And as long as the broken side is on the left hand needle, where I’m pushing stitches onto it, not away from it, it’s all good.

Anyway, it was a clean disconnect and I’m thinking that a dab of superglue in the hole might fix it. Anyone have any experience with this?

In other news, I went poking around Knit Picks’ site when looking up the Options URL and noticed that they’ve done a redesign. Some things are much better — it’s much easier to find yarns now (I hated that search form before when I just wanted to browse certain categories). Some things perplexed me — of course I had to place an order, but there’s a “Qty” box and a “Add to Stash” button (how cute, not a cart, but a stash). If I just want one of something, I shouldn’t have to enter a quantity. It should default to 1. And it didn’t. And the “Qty” field is sort of muted. So I had to call them to figure out why I couldn’t add coil-less safety pins to my order after trying several times. Okay, so maybe I’m lame and blind and shouldn’t be shopping at 7am. But I’m also a savvy-surfer and shouldn’t have been frustrated by that. They want to make it easy for me to buy something, not hard.

I also noticed that their funky KIPer project bags are on clearance. I guess they weren’t as successful as Options. If you’re curious about trying them, or have a couple but wanted to get the other sizes, go now!

Comments: 9 — Posted under: Almost Random, Tools

Keep it togther!

Some time ago, Knit Clips came out and I got a set. They’re small clips that you can use to hold knit pieces together while you are seaming them. Well, I’m attaching the sleeves to Mermaid, so I thought I’d try them. Problem is, Mermaid has a small gauge. Which makes the clips seem HUGE.

And the only thing that touches your knitted fabric is that one plastic pin. So, the 5 clips you get in a set might be good for a nice bulky straight seam, but for something fussy like an sleeve attachment, you want really careful alignment of pieces. Well, here’s my drug store solution:

Yep, those are mini hair clips. Easily found in packs of a dozen at any drug store for a few dollars. Example: Walgreens for $3. Compare to $7 for five Knit Klips.

Let’s take a longer view (which do you like better?):

And the bonus with the hair clips? When your bangs get in your face while you’re bent over sewing a seam, you can use one to hold them back.

Why yes, that is Mermaid…

Comments: 4 — Posted under: Tools

The Love has Tarnished

Yes, I mean my new KnitPicks Options needles and yes, I think I literally mean “tarnished”.

I knit all of the Ballet Cami on them and it went really well. However, near the end of the principal knitting, I noticed that the tips were a little dull. Looking more closely, I noticed that it was only near the tips, pretty much exactly where I hold them. Clearly, my fingers are interacting with the finish. In a way that I haven’t seen with my Addis.

It’s hard to take a photo, but I did my best. Note that the needle on the top is duller than the one on the bottom. They both have the tarnish, the one on the bottom simply has that side turned away from the camera. (The penny was there to give my camera something to focus on)

Does this mean I regret my purchase? No. At least, not yet. But it does bear careful watching. If anyone else notices this problem, I’d love to hear it.

In other news, here’s a finished object! This is the square I made for Annette’s Blanket. I’ll be mailing it to Samantha in a day or so. When I looked at my stash, I realized I had a bunch of Cascade 220 Superwash left over from a past group blanket; small balls in a bunch of random sizes. So I decided to give the log cabin technique a try, and I let the size of the balls of yarn dictate the size of the squares. Next time I try one, instead of working in a spiral, I think I’ll start in one corner, and grow down and right (or something like that).

Comments: 9 — Posted under: Knitting, Tools

Tips for Options

So, I’ve unpacked my Knit Picks Options needles and set the case up. Here are a few things I’ve done to organize them. I thought I’d share. I also placed a new order for more stuff.

- The organizer comes with 6 Needle Pocket sleeves, two of each size (1-pocket, 2-pocket, 3-pocket). The 3-pocket pockets are fine for storing one set of needle tips. But you get 9 sets of tips. Right now I’ve doubled them up in obviously constrasting sizes. But I also ordered another set of 3-pocket sleeves.

- The needle tips aren’t labeled with their size. Nor are the pockets in the organizer labeled. I’d ordered some of the Needle Size ID Tags which are intended to be hung on a cable holding stitches to remind you which ones you were using. But because I like easy reference when trying to find The Needle I Want, I decided to stick them in the pockets with the needles to ID the tips. I’ve ordered a couple more sets of ID Tags to actually use on cables as intended.

- The 2-pocket sleeves are good for storing the cables. Unfortunately, there’s no convenient way to label them. In fact, the packaging they came with didn’t even identify which lengths they were.

What else did I order?
- The larger needle tip sizes that aren’t included in the set
- Longer cables that aren’t included in the set

Now I’m off to write them an e-mail asking for the smaller circulars in a 2-socks-at-once magic-loop-friendly 40″ length and also for cable couplers. I’m not sure that I’d ever use the cable couplers to make a really long cable. But I can see that it might have other uses — like transfering stitches from a shorter cable to a longer cable with a minimum of fuss on an ever growing shawl.

Comments: 1 — Posted under: Tools

A Knitter’s ‘Dear John’ Letter

I remember when we first met, it was love at first sight. How you felt in my hands, the way the yarn slid over you. How you made things I’d always hated a joy. Very soon, I cast all others aside for you, learning new techniques to avoid using anything but you. Whenever I considered a new project, you were the first place I turned. And we did so much together.

So it’s with a heavy heart that I must confess that my hands have been turned by another. Someone younger and more flexible. Someone who gives me exactly what I need, whenever I need it. Someone with Options. I’ll never find myself fighting with an errant cable. I’ll never find a project stymied by lacking exactly the right needle. I’ll never curse when trying to work a tight stitch.

My darling Addi Turbos, you were my first love and I’ll always hold you dear. And to be fair, no one can replace you for Magic Loop socks just yet. But my infatuation with my new love has so many avenues yet to explore. And I expect it will always give me exactly what I need. So Addi, I’ll keep you around fondly, and I may caress you from time to time, but there’s so much room to grow in this new relationship, and I’m eager to embrace it.

All my love,
amy!

(yes, they’re that good)

Comments: 7 — Posted under: Tools

Knitting on the Sly

A couple of days ago I showed you the beginning of a beaded necklace. I was making it for my best friend, Kathleen’s 33 1/3rd birthday party. I only had 2 weeks notice, so I had to work fast. And, the party was in San Francisco, and I live in Boston. And she visited me for 5 of those days, so I couldn’t do it in front of her. So I worked on it where I could, even in a meeting or two at work! And on Friday, I boarded a plane to visit her.

In theory, it was rather simple: knit in the round, 10 beaded rows, 9 unbeaded rows, and a grafting bind-off. In practice, this is challenging. 400 beads on the thin cord, knitting with 000 needles, a very long grafting tail prone to tangling, trying to manage all of this in confined spaces. On the plane, I managed to finish the principal knitting. And because I had a window seat, I don’t think I bothered the woman next to me too much while grafting.

But the grafting wasn’t a dream. It might have taken longer than the actual knitting. Here’s what I was dealing with (the purple was my provisional cast on), each stitch I was grafting together had a bead on it:

I didn’t manage to dig out my camera on the plane, but I did work on the grafting while perched on a chair and a stool in her office in the library while she was leading an orientation. Note the tools of the trade: knees, small needle, scissors, phone, (iPod was out of the shot):

And as it turned out, I wasn’t able to finish it before the party. So I wrapped it anyway and gave it to her and finished it the next day. Her young cats were interested, but easily pushed away. Here’s the finished item:

And a couple of close-ups:

And finally, Kathleen wearing it:

Now, her party had a record theme. And I have always been the biggest record collector I know. My friends all had tapes. I needed the random access that a record gave me. When I wanted to listen to a song, I wanted it NOW!!! And in high school, I used to have hair down to my butt and sometimes, for kicks, I used to wear a 45rpm around my pony tail. As it so happens, my hair is currently long enough to put into a pony tail, and I still have that 45 I used to wear. But I needed a scrunchie to hold the record in place. An hour with a crochet hook and a ball of novelty yarn gave me this:

Which meant I looked like this for the party:

And in the ultimate in random access, Kathleen’s iPod played her 80s music collection on shuffle all night.

On the flight home, I got buried in Memoirs of a Geisha (the book), so I didn’t knit a stitch. So my Rock and Weave socks are calling to me. And another Rockin’ Sock Club package should be on it’s way shortly.

But something else was waiting for me when I got home today….

I immediately screwed together a needle and closed my eyes. This Addi Addict could actually be fooled. Maybe I’ll try them out on the other thing that was in the box….

Comments: 4 — Posted under: Knitting, Beading, Almost Random, Tools